Story By:  Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency:  Newsflash

An 11-year-old girl is pregnant with twins after she was allegedly raped by her stepfather in Brazil.

However, she has received authorisation to undergo an abortion after the attack in the municipality of Tanque do Piaui in Brazil’s north-eastern Piaui state.

But another 11-year-old girl, also in Brazil, may have to go ahead with her pregnancy after a rape in her family home in the country’s southern Santa Catarina state.

Abortion is a crime in Brazil, except in cases of risk to the mother’s life, when the pregnancy is the result of rape, or if the foetus is anencephalic (with no or only a partial brain). But it must be carried out by the 20th week of pregnancy.

Judge Joana Ribeiro Zimmer, 43, caused widespread outrage when she was asked to rule on whether the 20-week time limit for the procedure to be carried out could be extended. As the child was 22 weeks along, the judge refused.

However, the girl in the new case was granted authorisation, as she is 14 weeks pregnant.

Authorisation was granted on 23rd June and the girl was last reported to be waiting for the procedure to be performed.

Police arrested the 35-year-old man accused of raping her on 4th June, while his victim was admitted to a maternity hospital in the Piaui state capital Teresina on 6th June.

According to police spokesman Felipe Andrade, the suspect and the victim’s mother had been in a relationship for a year.

The man is believed to have abused the girl when her mother was not at home.

Andrade said: “He threatened the victim so she would not tell of the abuse.

“On discovering her daughter was pregnant, the mother questioned her partner, he admitted the rape and even threatened her.

“The mother herself sought the child services, who called the police about the case.”

The suspect remains in custody in a prison in Altos.